SK-105A2
Contents
Description
The SK-105A2 is a rank VI French tank destroyer with a battle rating of 8.7 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update "Ixwa Strike".
General info
Survivability and armour
The hull armour of the SK-105A2, even though it is angled at 62°, is relatively weak. In most cases, it will stop 20 mm cannons but cannons with more calibre will have no problems passing right trough the hull armour which in most cases leads to an instant death, due to the crew being very tightly packed together. Rapid firing autocannons such as the ones mounted on the Gepard or the ZSU-37-2 will have no problems shredding the SK-105 in less than a second. It is highly recommend to not take more than 24 shells due to the fact that reserve shells pile up in the front most part of the tank, which might lead to even more frequent instant deaths. If the user can manage their rounds effectively, the safest ammo count would be 16. This way, only 4 extra rounds are placed into the turret and no rounds are in the front of the tank.
In terms of weaponry, the SK-105 carries the 105 mm PzK M57 which is very effective at dispatching almost every enemy tank with a well placed shot. It possesses a 4 second auto-loader with a magazine size of 12 rounds. After the 12 rounds were depleted, the user has to wait until the magazine houses at least one round. This can be quite problematic if one is too trigger happy. The MG3A1 is also a very effective MG against exposed crew members and environmental objects with its high fire rate and 1,000 rounds.
Armour type:
- Cast homogeneous armour (Front of the turret, Gun mantlet)
- Rolled homogeneous armour (Hull, Turret roof)
| Armour | Front (Slope angle) | Sides | Rear | Roof |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hull | 20 mm (62°) Front Glacis
20 mm (49°) Bottom Glacis |
14 mm Top hull side 14 mm Bottom hull side |
12 (1°) mm | 5 - 10 mm |
| Turret | 20 - 40 (16-69°) mm Turret front 40 mm (0-90°) Gun Mantlet |
20 - 40 mm | 10 - 20 mm | 10 mm |
| Cupola | 10 mm (60°) | 10 mm | 10 mm | 10 mm |
Notes:
- Suspension wheels and torsion bars are 15 mm thick
- Tracks are 20 mm thick
Mobility
The SK-105 has an exceptional speed of roughly 59 km/h forwards on roads, and around 9 km/h in reverse while also being relatively manoeuvrable, due to being very similar to the AMX-13 light tank. It is powered by the Steyr 7FA/6-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine which provides 320 hp (238 kW) for a power-to-weight ratio of 18 hp/ton. While it can go as fast as 59 km/h, one should expect to move at about 40 km/h off-road, however the reserve speed still stays at -9 km/h and it takes roughly 12 seconds for the SK-105 to rotate 360° in neutral steering.
| Game Mode | Max Speed (km/h) | Weight (tons) | Engine power (horsepower) | Power-to-weight ratio (hp/ton) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | Reverse | Stock | Upgraded | Stock | Upgraded | ||
| Arcade | 76 | 10 | 18 | _,___ | 611 | __.__ | 33.94 |
| Realistic | 68 | 9 | _,___ | 320 | __.__ | 17.78 | |
Modifications and economy
| Mobility | Protection | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armaments
Main armament
Give the reader information about the characteristics of the main gun. Assess its effectiveness in a battle based on the reloading speed, ballistics and the power of shells. Do not forget about the flexibility of the fire, that is how quickly the cannon can be aimed at the target, open fire on it and aim at another enemy. Add a link to the main article on the gun: {{main|Name of the weapon}}. Describe in general terms the ammunition available for the main gun. Give advice on how to use them and how to fill the ammunition storage.
| 105 mm PzK M57 | Turret rotation speed (°/s) | Reloading rate (seconds) | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mode | Capacity | Vertical | Horizontal | Stabilizer | Stock | Upgraded | Full | Expert | Aced | Stock | Full | Expert | Aced |
| Arcade | 38 | -6°/+13° | ±180° | N/A | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 | 4.00 |
| Realistic | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | __._ | ||||||||
Ammunition
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 10 m | 100 m | 500 m | 1,000 m | 1,500 m | 2,000 m | ||
| OCC 105 F1 | HEAT | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| OE 105 F1 Mle.60 | HE | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| OFL 105 G1 | APFSDS | 346 | 344 | 335 | 326 | 315 | 306 |
| Shell details | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (m) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
Ricochet | ||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | |||||||
| OCC 105 F1 | HEAT | 1000 | 10.95 | 0.05 | 0.1 | 1020 | 62° | 69° | 73° |
| OE 105 F1 Mle.60 | HE | 700 | 12.1 | N/A | 0.1 | 2000 | 79° | 80° | 81° |
| OFL 105 G1 | APFSDS | 1475 | 3.8 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 78° | 80° | 81° |
| Smoke shell characteristics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile Mass (kg) |
Screen radius (m) |
Screen deploy time (s) |
Screen hold time (s) |
Explosive Mass (TNT equivalent) (g) |
| OFPH 105 F1 | 700 | 11.4 | 20 | 5 | 25 | 50 |
Ammo racks
| Full ammo |
1st rack empty |
2nd rack empty |
3rd rack empty |
4th rack empty |
5th rack empty |
6th rack empty |
Visual discrepancy |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 38 | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ (+__) | __ |
Machine guns
The SK-105 has access to the MG3A1 (7.62 mm) machine gun. While it lacks any some sort effective penetration, its high rate of fire can dispatch exposed crew members easily. The one, and only, belt houses 1,000 rounds with average velocity. It is largely inadequate against armour and should be used exclusively to dispatch exposed crew members or to destroy environmental objects such as fences with ease.
| 7.62 mm MG3A1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mount | Capacity (Belt) | Fire rate | Vertical | Horizontal |
| Pintle | 1,000 (1,000) | 1,200 | -6°/+13° | 180° |
Usage in battles
The SK-105A2 excels at filling the spot as a sniper, due to its very powerful 105 mm cannon, low profile and high mobility. This is all balanced out however by the fact that the SK-105 possesses little to no armour, so any kind of hit from a cannon more powerful than 20 mm, will dispatch the SK-105 quite easily. The user should always check their surrounding as much they can, and as frequently as they can. Finding a vantage point with cover nearby is an effective strategy. Brawls and rushes should generally be avoided and tactics like flanking or sniping should be focused upon as the SK-105 will stand no chance in direct engagements or close quarters fights. However, if one does stumble into a brawl, the 4 second autoloader will prove to be a major benefit coupled with the amazing 105 mm cannon, although one should pay attention to their magazine as the user will not be able to shoot at all if the magazine runs dry completely. It is because of this reason that at least 2 spare rounds should be carried in the magazine in case of an ambush. One big thing to note is that the user also lacks a stabilizer which may prove to be quite of a problem due to the light size of the tank and fast speed, as these properties will make the gun harder to stabilize on its own if the user decides to brake spontaneously.
Pros and cons
Pros:
- Very mobile and high max speed
- Good starting HEAT-FS round, the OCC-105 F1
- Small profile, easy to hide behind cover
- Astonishing 12 round auto-loader; reloading takes 4 seconds
Cons:
- Lacks a stabilizer
- Little to no armour
- Easy to destroy with a single shot due to the tight crew placement
- If the magazine runs out of rounds, the user has to wait until it is refilled to engage
History
At least three countries were interested in the 1950s by the new concept of oscillating turret, those being USA, France and Austria. Austria was heavily supplied by the US tanks, such as the M47 and reinforced by some British Charioteers. Due to this, the army started looking for a reliable tank-hunter to fill the role of dispatching tanks. Osterreichische Saurer-Werke from Vienna was contacted, which already produced the ADGZ, which was an Austrian-German made heavy armored car. The company had recently acquired a contract to equip their motorized units with the Sauer 4K 4FA, of which 445 were produced for the Army and many more were exported, so they adopted their already existing chassis with some modifications to suit the Austrian army.
It was very important to use a very reliable yet powerful gun, as it had to perform the role of a tank-hunter while still being relatively light. This prompted the engineers to contact nearby France, which already mass-produced their AMX-13 with an oscillating turret, and allowed them to design a light yet powerful turret. As a consequence, when the SK-105 was produced and put in service it was the only other European tank featuring this concept.
An estimated total of 600-700 vehicles were produced by Saurer-Werk, which also includes exported vehicles. The Kürassier entered service in the year 1971 for the Austrian army (which included around 286 of them) and remained so until the 1990s. The rest were exported, and most of them are still in service today. Argentina is the most prolific customer with 118 vehicles. These were called the "Patagón", keeping the same chassis, but with a modernized AMX-13 turret. The prototype was presented in November 2005 and 39 conversions followed until 2009 (for roughly 23.4 million US$).
Media
SK-105A2 in the garage
See also
- AMX-13 - Another tank which uses the oscillating turret system that the SK-105 uses
External links
| France tank destroyers | |
|---|---|
| Lorraine 40t derivatives | CA Lorraine · Lorraine 155 Mle.50 |
| ATGM | MEPHISTO · AMX-10M |
| Other | AMR.35 ZT3 · Lorraine 37L · SAu 40 · ARL-44 · ELC bis · AMX-50 Foch · AuF1 |
| USA | ▄M10 GMC · ▄M36B2 |
